It’s official, Fleet, BankBoston sign agreement
BOSTON – Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston committed themselves to fulfilling their merger agreement by signing and submitting the articles of merger to the secretaries of state in Rhode Island and Massachusetts on October 1. The merger produces a bank with combined assets of $170 billion, placing it eighth among the nation’s bank holding companies. Despite the completion of the official merger process the two banks will continue to operate independently until the conversion of all systems is completed. That is expected to be done during the first half of the year 2000. However, the banks’ ATMs will be accessible to customers of either bank without charge.
Mpath changes name, buys software company
NORTH ADAMS – Resounding Technology Inc., located here and the maker of Roger Wilco, software for holding voice chats on the Internet, has been purchased by Mpath Interactive, Inc., which runs live chat rooms and multi-player games on the Internet. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed. Mpath also announced that it was changing its name to HearMe, and its NASDAQ symbol from MPTH to HEAR.
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Aztec Technology to lay off 70 employees
BOSTON – Aztec Technology Partners, Inc. announced it would lay off about 70 employees and that its president, chairman and chief executive, James Claypoole will retire. The company said it would lay off workers at its Trumbull, Conn., plant, and in its Boston hardware maintenance and repair operation, and close its plant in Canfield, Ohio. The company announced it would focus on its Internet based applications development and networking services. Chief operating officer, Ira Cohen, replaces Claypoole as president, and Clifford Mitchell becomes chairman. Claypoole will continue to serve on the board.
CMGI buys online ad firm
ANDOVER – CMGI, Inc., the Internet venture company announced its acquisition of another online advertising company. Flycast Communications Corp., an aggregator of ads that are distributed over the World Wide Web has been acquired CMGI for a reported $741 million stock. Flycast, located in San Francisco, is the third such marketer acquired by CMGI in the last two weeks. CMGI is said to be positioning itself to compete with DoubleClock Inc. of New York in what is expected to be the major marketing medium of the Internet. According to the Boston Globe, both companies are working at developing sophisticated software programs that show customers only those online ads likely to interest them based on demographics and their TV channel surfing habits.
Cambridge firm being bought by Calif. firm
CAMBRIDGE – InConcert Inc. is being acquired by Tibco of Palo Alto, Calif. for $34 million. InConcert, which is owned by Xerox Corp., makes software which bundles billing and operational services. Among its customers are AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp. and Qwest Communications International, Inc.
Tufts Health Plan projects $53.5 million loss
WALTHAM – Projecting a $53.5 million operating loss this year, Tufts Health Plan announced that it would leave the Maine market where it has 70,500 customers. The projected loss is its worst ever, Tufts said. Tufts said in closing its Maine operations it would be laying off 38 workers and negotiating the termination of its contract with Bath Iron Works, Maine’s largest employer. The contract runs through 2001. Tufts said it will continue to operate in Rhode Island where it has 10,700 members and New Hampshire where it serves 78,600. Tufts blamed its financial problems on the higher than expected medical costs and the cost of its expansion into Maine.
ArQule wins $30 million contract
MEDFORD – ArQule Inc. announced that it had signed a three-year agreement with Bayer A.G. of Germany to design and create more than 200,000 compounds for screening against Bayer’s biological targets with the goal of developing new therapeutic and agricultural products. The agreement was valued by ArQule at $30 million. The companies will collaborate in guiding the design of the compounds using their respective proprietary technologies and information. The agreement is the latest in a series of such arrangements with chemical and pharmaceutical companies, such as Wyeth-Ayerst, a subsidiary of American Home Products, Pfizer, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and several European and Japanese pharmaceutical companies.
Aerovox agrees to leave Belleville Avenue site
NEW BEDFORD – Aerovox has formally agreed with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency to relocate its operation from its Belleville Avenue plant site to another location within 16 months. In anticipation of the agreement, Aerovox, which manufactures electric capacitators at the plant, has already broken ground at the New Bedford Business Park for a new plant. The Belleville Avenue plant is being closed so that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are considered health hazards, reportedly caused by previous occupants of the plant, not Aerovox, can be capped and sealed. The building will be demolished. Under the terms of the agreement, the site would be capped by November 2011, but an EPA spokesman predicted that Aerovox would be able to begin cleanup work at the site by 2005.
Biogen breaks ground for Cambridge tower
CAMBRIDGE – Biogen, Inc. has broken ground for a six-story research and development building in Kendall Square. In November, Amgen, Inc., the largest biotech company in the country plans to begin construction of an eight-story building opposite the new Biogen building. Biogen reports that its new tower will employ 400 when it opens in 2001. The company already employs 900 of its 1,300 employees in Massachusetts.
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
